Ancestral Living | Traditional Birthing | Primal Parenting

Sprouted Chickpea Hummus Recipe + Book Announcement

The other day I came across a recipe for Roasted Red Beet Hummus. Here is my traditional nutrition-spin on this marvelously magenta dip.

Sprouted Chickpea & Roasted Beet Hummus

Plus an E-book Announcement!

I love hummus. Often times I will seek out a Greek or Mediterranean restaurant just for the hummus. The one time before that I attempted to make it myself, it turned out gritty and wasn’t as rich as some of the restaurant versions I had had.

The secret, I have discovered, to a smooth creamy hummus is to remove the husks from the chickpeas (garbanzo beans) after cooking. This is an extremely tedious process, but well worth it. Extra olive oil and making sure the mix is well blended also helps ensure a creamy dip.

I also avoided wrapping my beet roots in aluminum because it is a toxic substance I try to avoid cooking with at all possible. Aluminum toxicity is linked to numerous health concerns, most notably among them being Alzheimer’s.

Why Sprouted?

Soaking and sprouting legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds breaks down properties known as “anti-nutrients” such as gluten and phytic acid. The effect of this process is multi-fold. It makes the food itself more easily digested by the body and thus the nutrients are more bioavailable and easier for the body to absorb.

Sprouting also prevents these anti-nutrients from coating the lining of the gut, which causes a block to nutrient absorption from other foods eaten later on. It also makes for a ‘living’ food that in many instances could be eaten raw or lightly cooked, and provides more vitality to the body.

When sprouting simply to activate this process, versus trying to grow “sandwich sprouts”, you only need to sprout your seeds, nuts, legumes, or grains until there is a tiny white ‘leg’ that has emerged, like pictured below. I let mine go a little bit further sometimes such as with my peas and lentils. (Sprouted rice looks slightly different).

To sprout your garbanzo beans, take 1/2-1 C of dried beans and add them to a quart jar. Fill with water, and let stand 8-12 hours or over night. Pour off this water, rinse well, and then rinse again another 8-12 hours later. How long it takes your beans to sprout depends on the age and condition of the beans and the warmth of your kitchen. It will generally take 1-3 days.

The Recipe

Once you have your sprouted chickpeas, they need to be cooked. Add one cup of chickpeas to a pot of filtered water (covered by about two inches). Bring to a bowl then reduce to medium heat and cook about 90 minutes.

After cooking, the beans need to be shelled of their papery husks. Again, this is time consuming, but worth it. If the beans are well-cooked they should just pinch off.

Since it takes about an hour to roast medium-sized beets, I recommend cooking them and the beans at the same time to save you time in the kitchen. Beets should have their ends cut off, their outsides scrubbed of any dirt, and be placed in a pan and cooked at 375 F until fork-tender. Peel them and slice into cubes.

Once your beets and beans are done, add all your ingredients to your food processor: one cup chickpeas, 2 medium red beets diced, 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil (to start with), juice from half a medium-sized lemon (again, to start with), one garlic clove minced, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt. You can also add 2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds but I didn’t have any when I made this version.

Puree until well blended. Taste, and add more olive oil and lemon juice per your own preference. Total, I used about 1/4+1/8 C olive oil and juice from 3/4 of a medium-sized lemon. The recipe linked above called for a meyer Lemon but I used a regular (organic– all of my ingredients were organic) lemon. I pureed for about 15 minutes total to get it extra creamy and really incorporate all the oil and juice.

Serve with pita bread, veggies, spread on sandwiches, or enjoy by the spoonful! Put some in the fridge (where it should last a week) and freeze the rest for later.

Cook and shell chickpeas; roast beets, peel, and dice beets. Add all ingredients to food processor and blend until well mixed and creamy. Adjust salt, lemon juice, and olive oil to desired flavor and consistency, blending well again. Make sure all beet chunks have been ground up and there are no lumps, and that the oil has emulsified well. Serve! Store in the refrigerator for up to a week; extra freezes well.

E-Book in the Works

Since I have been on a sprouting kick lately, which you can see some progress of and recipes from on my IG @ladymoonwithwomen, I have decided to put together an e-book on sprouting foodstuffs and recipes to utilize said sprouts beyond sandwich toppings. It will contain multiple original and modified recipes, how to sprout a variety of things from rice to beans to wheat, why sprouting is important, what tools you'll need to get started, and more.

To be kept in the loop about when it will be completed and released, including a pre-release sale, sign up for my (very occasional) newsletter.

What Have You Sprouted?

Have you tried sprouting anything? Did you have success? Have you tried this recipe? Let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear from you~